“I’m committed to bring the issue to the floor and then to
see a way forward so we can get the votes” to approve a bill,
the Virginia Republican told reporters yesterday while
campaigning for Representative Raul Labrador in Boise, Idaho,
according to the Idaho Statesman newspaper. Cantor provided no
other details, spokesman Douglas Heye said today in an e-mail.

The Senate in June approved a five-year plan to fund U.S.
Department of Agriculture nutrition programs including food
stamps and subsidies to farmers that lower raw-materials costs
for companies including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. and Bunge
Ltd. While the House Agriculture Committee passed its version of
the law in June, the full House has yet to consider the
proposal. Both plans would cost roughly $100 billion annually.

Because of the expiration of the previous farm bill,
agriculture policy is technically being guided by legislation
passed in 1949, which requires massive government price-setting
and acreage limitations on crops including wheat and corn. Such
programs wouldn’t come into effect until 2013, buying time for
Congress to act while creating pressure for a new law to be
passed.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a
Michigan Democrat, interpreted Cantor’s remarks as a commitment
to a floor vote. “It is critical that we are able to finalize
the farm bill before the beginning of next year, when farm
programs begin to expire,” she said in an e-mail.